News ► Kingdom Hearts 20th Anniversary Event held in Tokyo on April 10th

[KingdomKurdistan]

I just don't get the intention. When Marvel previews stuff exclusively for audiences at specific conventions, it's usually a mix of deals with the organisers, a gauge of public reception before exposing it to everyone else, a hype-building exercise. But even then, it's not the norm and there are clear and obvious reasons for it regardless of how frustrating it be or whether we agree with them or not.

With this KH event, it's none of that. They're hosting it themselves. They're ostensibly celebrating the past and the fans that got them there. There's no external stakeholder expecting exclusives to sell tickets to an expo. In fact, are SE even selling tickets at all? And if there's nothing secret to be revealed, then why the exclusivity. And if there is something to be revealed, then what are they trying to achieve with that exclusivity?

Marvel screened an exclusive preview of Eternals what seemed like years ago but it was unfisihed footage and it made sense in the context of the event. They've done it other times, too. But they're Marvel. They could screen a trailer for one single person and it would spread like wildfire across the Internet, sustaining more debate and engagement than the actual trailer probably would.

Kingdom Hearts isn't there yet. The fan pages and people like us who dwell in forums, twitter, and KH's reddit sub, are already a captive audience and who'd wish to be at that event/stream it anyway. Who else would care at this point?

Nobody else cared about KH3 until the marketing kicked in leading up to release (the trailers didn't make an impact and lots of people I know didn't get the hype for this "dumb looking kids game" only to be sucked in upon release). And nobody will care about KH4 until the marketing kicks in for that.

I just wished I knew what their point was in this exclusionary strategy. Then I'd be OK with disagreeing with it.

 

[Light’s Master]

Just to remind some people of an example of an event that happened behind closed doors with a video edited afterwards.

The worst part is that we'll probably get something like this out of it, with small snippets of the concert, the Q&A and with audience reactions to the eventual trailer and all.

YEA IF WE GET THIS I WOULD FLY TO JAPAN AS I AM CRYING AND MAKE THEM RELEASE THE VIDEOS IN FULL AND EARLY

 

[Sign]

The real puzzling thing is why, 2 years into a global pandemic, when travel and large gatherings are ill-advised (and in some places, prohibited), they would not just opt for a digital event.

YEA IF WE GET THIS I WOULD FLY TO JAPAN AS I AM CRYING AND MAKE THEM RELEASE THE VIDEOS IN FULL AND EARLY

The country's in lockdown lol, no foreigners allowed in.

 

[HakaishinChampa]

The problem with exclusivity is that it'll be hard to discern what is real and what is not.

"Like is any of this for real or not?"

There would be too much misinformation on social media.

"I was at the event and they announced 358/2 Days HD"
"They announced KH NFTs"
"They showed a KH1 Remake Trailer"

They'd announce everything eventually but it would be frustrating if we had to wait a month for everything to get announced on Twitter & Youtube.

I'm hoping the trailers are uploaded onto Youtube after the event.

 

[Noivern]

I'm definitely reading 4 pages of discussion on an event announcement, so I'm just going to comment on the actual news: they're most definitely not going to please us with whatever is being announced, but I hope we get actual content to get the community going until the next game comes out.

 

[bambii (aka foreteller)]

I’ll stop complaining after this but will also just note that the KH team has really failed to inspire confidence with the way they’ve handled similar situations over this past year with UX/DR. They’ve progressively eroded trust, the most egregious example being the UX finale debacle. Dark Road limbo/waiting room is still open. So when we see “at a later date” for such a major/hyped up event, a collective groan (especially from the international fanbase) is to be expected. This isn’t happening in a vacuum, shit’s cumulative.

Anyway w/e, I hope we get something good

 

[MATGSY]

"Sir, we can't allow you in the theater"

Me: Why not? I'm a paying customer!

"You have your phone out."

Me: Yeah, I'm just sending a text to my 'nan.

"I can see the flash turned on."

Me: I dropped something on the ground & needed to use the flashlight function. *Bends over to pick a piece of lint off the ground*

"I just now saw you had a video editor app open & the words 'BIG KINGDOM HEARTS LEAK LIVE REACTION' typed in."

Me: That was from 'Nan. You know how she is, always posting every little rumor she sees on Facebook, ha ha ha!"

"You're wearing a pair of Google Glass."

Me: It's a special prescription lenses from my eye doctor. I need it to see.

"You have a large professional film camera with 2 reels in your other hand."

Me: It's for my other eye. They got separate problems you see.

"There's a guy holding a boom mic behind you."

Me: Purely a coincidence.

"Chris Nolan is on you left sitting in a director's chair."

Me: Why not, he's a fan too. Ain't that right, Chris? *Nolan can not respond due to being duct taped to the chair with his mouth taped shut*

"You have an entire catering table on your right."

Me: What, I can't bring in outside snacks now?"

"No actually, you can not."

Me: Shit.

 

[SuperNova]

Japan remains the favored child of the fandom, that much has always been clear. I'm not upset about the Q+A being an exclusive event, what bothers me is the prospect of game footage and or trailers being shown behind closed doors when there really is no reason to with the entire community waiting for the next game/project.

 

[KingdomHeartsIsVeryBright]

I'm calling it. The real reason why they're not livestreaming it is because they're going to reveal Kingdom Hearts NFT's. They don't want us pausing and right clicking the stream.

Don’t you dare manifest such things into this world.

 

[HakaishinChampa]

Don’t you dare manifest such things into this world.

I think it has a 50% chance of happening

I mean Disney made a WALL-E NFT, which is ironic.

Square Enix seems to be interested in NFTs, Disney does too - it is looking possible.

 

[KingdomKurdistan]

Imagine NFTs were around when KHUX was in full swing.

People were already remortgaging their houses for some very-much-fungible tokens just to get past the Wreck-It-Ralph level.

That game with added NFTs would be a matter for Nato, the WHO and the UN Security Council.

 

[2 quid is good]

Personally, I'm not too bothered about the exclusivity. The Kingdom Hearts socials always end up posting the important content, anyway.

I heavily disagree, like its ridiculous to me that the vast majority of us still haven't seen the Cable town cg trailer. If it was good enough to show at the launch event it was good enough to share with all of us. Forever mad lol.

And by the way let's just recap over every closed theatre that happened between 2013 - 2019, just off the top of my head:
2.5 launch event
D23 2015 (an absolutely awful one BTW because it was teased for so long)
D23 2017/2018 (iirc)
And the various concerts, I think the worst one being the "First Breath" scene.

Like, that is literally the type of stuff they can film and subtitle, the audience there is paying for the privilege of the concert, stuff like voice actor scenes can be made available to all of us, so no, if anything, we rarely get things of actual importance shown on the socials.

They release the game trailers because if they didn't that would be terrible marketing, it's for a purpose. All the other cool stuff? Fat chance of ever seeing them unless you were lucky enough to be there.

*Sure* we can rely on fan translations and descriptions, and I'm so grateful to goldpanner for that, and Zephyr for making those 2.5 event impressions. But really, fan site shouldn't be doing the brunt of this, and do so because they're so passionate, otherwise all of this stuff would be lost to the sands of time

 

[Face My Fears]

The "special guests" mentioned are more than likely referring to VAs, as is usually the case, and they are only mentioned on the website in regards to the talk session with dev staff.

Hoping Utada will attend is one thing, but assuming that they not only will, but will be the focus of the mini concert that is also going to be recorded in full and even released as an album is another thing entirely. Taking that many leaps and bounds when their name has not even been mentioned in relation to this event is just setting yourself up for disappointment.

Well I'm hoping for all of that. I don't get disappointed easily, so I wouldn't really care if Utada wasn't there. I'm just being optimistic that she will be there - and if she is - above all else, I'm hoping for a live acoustic Face My Fears performance.

No most of us couldn't care less about being there in person, we just don't want to be treated as an afterthought.

More often than not it feel like we international fans aren't wanted or valued and just tolorated to finanze the whole thing. The Japanese fans are obviously the favorite child in this dysfunctional family metaphor.
I mean has an international website for the anniversary even launched yet?

Personally I am just not a fan of exclusive events generally. But especially not for big anniverseries that were advertised internationally. Also it just seems stupid to have a local limited in person event, during a pandemic.
It be something else, if there was this local event and simultaniously something for fans that can't attend. So we can all celebrate together and feel valued.

That's kind of a pretentious statement to make. An exhibit, a live Q&A with NOMURA, a live mini concert etc. and you think actual KH fans couldn't care less?

How are you being treated as an afterthought? We're getting video of the event. If you're taking it that far to feel unwanted or less valued just because you don't get to see the exclusive event the moment it happens, I think that's a separate issue.

Instead of jumping on the offensive, maybe wait to see if North America will get an exclusive event as well. KH1 got released in North America in September 2002, so maybe we get one in October? They just announced this event 3 months before it's going to happen, maybe we get more news later?

I get wanting to "celebrate together", but I seriously doubt KH fans in North America will even be awake or available if they were to livestream from Japan. So ultimately, the "celebrate together" thing really is just coded language for "I want to see it ASAP." Don't make it seem like it's an emotional thing because really people just want to get their hands on what everyone else is seeing - which is why there's still frustration to this day about not seeing "Cable Town".

Both lamenting the "trauma" of the series not being PlayStation exclusive anymore and defending this odd exercise in artificial scarcity after they released a teaser trailer in English and Japanese for this event months ago.

Peculiar and verging on gatekeeping tbh.

They need to let the spice flow. SE has got to be the most dated and sloth-like company in the video game industry.

Who said that the trailer was for this event only? There could be a North American one scheduled for September/October.

I'm not defending this event being exclusive. I jus think people are over-reacting. If people claim that they're so offended and feel personally attacked just because it's not being livestreamed and they have to wait to get video of the event... that's really not normal in my mind. I have no idea why they chose to do this particular event this way nor do I care, I'm just glad the event is happening and there's KH news.

I shouldn't be ganged up on just because I'm OK with this anniversary event happening the way it is. All I did was throw out ideas on why I thought they were doing it this way, saying I didn't have a problem with it, and that I didn't get people's frustrations.

Maybe it's because I'm not in the gaming community except for KH, but I cannot believe that people are so enraged and feel attacked because a company didn't deliver a trailer or information on time - or in this case, didn't livestream an exclusive event for in-person fans, and instead choose to release a video of it shortly after the event.

Are we not fans? Aren't we allowed to share in the joy in celebrating the history of the series and exploring the future of the series at the same time as everyone else? If this event was hypothetically happening in Sydney and I was going, it'd suck because my friends over in North America wouldn't be able to share in the joy of what I'm seeing at the same time.

I love screaming in real time with them when there's a trailer at E3 or TGS. I wish the same could happen for the 20th anniversary of the series we all love.

The same way I was accused and admonished for getting my hopes way too high for Utada to appear, I would say this - who even said there was going to be a trailer at this event to scream for?

Everyone who is complaining about how the event should have been livestreamed and we want to see everything NOW - that whole attitude is under the presumption that we get something new at this event. What if it's exactly what's advertised and then a verbal announcement from Nomura that we'll get a trailer at a later date this year. I know what people would scream at in real time if THAT were livestreamed.

All I'm trying to say is we as fans should be happy the event is actually happening and has a solid date. That's the first step to KHIV. People shouldn't go crazy demanding stuff that wasn't even promised. And I have a feeling that a trailer will NOT be shown at the event, but be released with the video of the event at a later date - and if that happens I will LOL so hard because everyone was so pissed at getting the video of the event and not a livestream.

 

[KingdomKurdistan]

I shouldn't be ganged up on just because I'm OK with this anniversary event happening the way it is. All I did was throw out ideas on why I thought they were doing it this way, saying I didn't have a problem with it, and that I didn't get people's frustrations.

I should have checked how many other similar replies you got before posting my own. Sorry it feels like you were ganged up on and it does suck to be on the receiving end of that for what is a fairly innocuous viewpoint.

I do generally agree with you on the entitlement thing. It's just that they promoted this event last year to reach as many people as possible within the fandom and in the general gaming community/press. The marketing was in English and got a flashy animated trailer to hype it up.

To go from that back to an exclusive and private event just seems counterintuitive and insular. Without that odd mixed-messaging, I wouldn't really have beef with this week's update.

 

[Katsagu]

Well I'm hoping for all of that. I don't get disappointed easily, so I wouldn't really care if Utada wasn't there. I'm just being optimistic that she will be there - and if she is - above all else, I'm hoping for a live acoustic Face My Fears performance.

That's kind of a pretentious statement to make. An exhibit, a live Q&A with NOMURA, a live mini concert etc. and you think actual KH fans couldn't care less?

How are you being treated as an afterthought? We're getting video of the event. If you're taking it that far to feel unwanted or less valued just because you don't get to see the exclusive event the moment it happens, I think that's a separate issue.

Instead of jumping on the offensive, maybe wait to see if North America will get an exclusive event as well. KH1 got released in North America in September 2002, so maybe we get one in October? They just announced this event 3 months before it's going to happen, maybe we get more news later?

I get wanting to "celebrate together", but I seriously doubt KH fans in North America will even be awake or available if they were to livestream from Japan. So ultimately, the "celebrate together" thing really is just coded language for "I want to see it ASAP." Don't make it seem like it's an emotional thing because really people just want to get their hands on what everyone else is seeing - which is why there's still frustration to this day about not seeing "Cable Town".

Who said that the trailer was for this event only? There could be a North American one scheduled for September/October.

I'm not defending this event being exclusive. I jus think people are over-reacting. If people claim that they're so offended and feel personally attacked just because it's not being livestreamed and they have to wait to get video of the event... that's really not normal in my mind. I have no idea why they chose to do this particular event this way nor do I care, I'm just glad the event is happening and there's KH news.

I shouldn't be ganged up on just because I'm OK with this anniversary event happening the way it is. All I did was throw out ideas on why I thought they were doing it this way, saying I didn't have a problem with it, and that I didn't get people's frustrations.

Maybe it's because I'm not in the gaming community except for KH, but I cannot believe that people are so enraged and feel attacked because a company didn't deliver a trailer or information on time - or in this case, didn't livestream an exclusive event for in-person fans, and instead choose to release a video of it shortly after the event.

The same way I was accused and admonished for getting my hopes way too high for Utada to appear, I would say this - who even said there was going to be a trailer at this event to scream for?

Everyone who is complaining about how the event should have been livestreamed and we want to see everything NOW - that whole attitude is under the presumption that we get something new at this event. What if it's exactly what's advertised and then a verbal announcement from Nomura that we'll get a trailer at a later date this year. I know what people would scream at in real time if THAT were livestreamed.

All I'm trying to say is we as fans should be happy the event is actually happening and has a solid date. That's the first step to KHIV. People shouldn't go crazy demanding stuff that wasn't even promised. And I have a feeling that a trailer will NOT be shown at the event, but be released with the video of the event at a later date - and if that happens I will LOL so hard because everyone was so pissed at getting the video of the event and not a livestream.

It's cool you're fine with it. But why is it hard to understand other people might not? Not necessary of you to make it up to be like we're all a bunch of entitled brats over-reacting and that "oh you don't really care about the celebration, you just want EVERYTHING NOW!".

I'm talking for myself here, but the video I posted on the other page of the 2.5 event is not a good substitute to actually being able to watch it in it's entirety, final KH3 trailer or not. And I'm not being entitled or whatever you're saying, I'm simply expressing my discontentment as a fan that I don't get to be able to watch it all, because I'd really like to. Like I'm not angry at SE nor am I losing sleep over this, just not happy with it.

You're acting like a victim right now and I don't get why, saying you came here and were ganged up on, but you came here with all this hypotheticals and people simply pointed out to you that they don't hold up to scrutiny, but you continued to double down on them. Also, no one destroyed your Utada dreams. Sign only comented on that when you used the reasoning of "the video is only shown at a later date because they need to enhance Utada's concert audio files to release as an album" that is overly specific and relies exclusively on a hypothetical appearance of Utada and of them creating an album of the concert.

Even in this post: "What if there's a North American event in september?" well what if there isn't? And if there is, should I hope for a Europe, more specifically Portugal, event that I can attend? A North American event would pose the same worries and issues that I have with this one. And if I don't voice them what will change?

The problem here is simple. Even if there isn't a trailer or announcement, this continues a trend that fans/I had hoped was over. You even said it yourself on a later post: "But this is what seems to happen a lot of KH events - COVID or not.", and just because you find it unique, doesn't mean other people feel the same way about it as you.

 

[AdrianXXII]

That's kind of a pretentious statement to make. An exhibit, a live Q&A with NOMURA, a live mini concert etc. and you think actual KH fans couldn't care less?

How are you being treated as an afterthought? We're getting video of the event. If you're taking it that far to feel unwanted or less valued just because you don't get to see the exclusive event the moment it happens, I think that's a separate issue.

Instead of jumping on the offensive, maybe wait to see if North America will get an exclusive event as well. KH1 got released in North America in September 2002, so maybe we get one in October? They just announced this event 3 months before it's going to happen, maybe we get more news later?

I get wanting to "celebrate together", but I seriously doubt KH fans in North America will even be awake or available if they were to livestream from Japan. So ultimately, the "celebrate together" thing really is just coded language for "I want to see it ASAP." Don't make it seem like it's an emotional thing because really people just want to get their hands on what everyone else is seeing - which is why there's still frustration to this day about not seeing "Cable Town".

To be clear I was using hyperbole. I think most would love to attend an exhibition and concert around KH. But my point is most aren't upset about not being there in-person, we're upset about being excluded, when it would be easy to include everyone.
It's kind of strange to advertise a big anniversary event only to celebrate with a select random few first and then eventually share it with the rest at an undisclosed time later.

Also I'd say it's more pretentious to claim everyone's acting entitled and their main complaint is not being able to attend in-person, when there's multiple pages of people voicing they're mainly frustrated by the lack of livestream and vagueness of when it'll be shared, but what do I know?

Regarding the rest I think Katsagu addressed it better than I can.

 

[bambii (aka foreteller)]

mainly frustrated by the lack of livestream and vagueness of when it'll be shared

Basically this, and it’s not an uncommon frustration.

@Face My Fears I’m sorry you felt ganged up on, certainly wasn’t my intention. I was simply trying to explain the reasoning behind the frustration I feel and which many others seem to share. No one here is throwing a tantrum or is particularly enraged, far as I can tell. Ultimately it’s not a huge deal but I think what it boils down to is that this is emblematic of a chronic issue which fans have expressed discontent about for years, and it feels shitty that the KH team have essentially ignored the fanbase’s voice on this issue for so long. If the devs didn’t get the memo after Cable Town, they’re clearly not even listening. (But then again who knows, I can’t claim to be speaking for the majority of the fanbase).

I’ve been referring to FFXIV as a case study for positive and successful engagement with fans—the development team is super transparent with the fanbase, communicates regularly and honestly, and genuinely seems interested in listening to and incorporating community feedback. (As a small example, back when they revealed the job logo for Sage, a subset of fans brought awareness to the fact that the image could be triggering for people with trypophobia. So they changed it!) This type of engagement breeds a very refreshing culture and transparent dynamic between developers and consumers which, aside from just being an ethic to strive for (in my opinion), generally also results in a better and more well-received product. Compare with, for example, the Cyberpunk 2077 disaster, in which the entire development cycle happened in some kind of hyperbolic chamber (as far as fans were concerned), and really the only mode of engagement was a bread and circus of impossible promises and outlandish advertisements. And if you don’t know what happened upon release, just Google it.

Personally I work in urban design and, without fail, projects are only successful and well-received if engagement with the affected community has been transparent, consistent, and thoughtful. I’ve hosted closed-door or otherwise difficult-to-access events, and people always resent it. People feel excluded from a process whose outcome affects them.

I know it probably seems silly to talk about something as serious and important as socio-political community engagement in the context of the commercial entertainment industry, but I genuinely think some similar principles (should) apply. It’s a pity this is all ultimately driven by profit, but game developers often have a genuine artistic vision which I think is only strengthened by transparency, by keeping their fingers on the pulse of the (sub-)cultures they’re working within. Something in active dialogue with its culture will always be stronger for it.

Anyway, it’s not like we’re asking for regular behind-the-scenes dev updates or anything particularly unusual. I’m not saying devs should cater to every fan wish, that would be insane (“entitlement”). We literally just want to feel involved, engaged, like we’re all in on it together. We’re invested in this series! And many other game development teams are already doing a much better job of this, to varying degrees. Again, it’s kind of a baseline ask. The point isn’t to moan and fling expletives at SE, it’s to (hopefully) make them aware that they could be doing something better, and that it would make their fans happier. If we can hold them to a higher standard, why shouldn’t we?

 

[Face My Fears]

Look I'm sorry for riling everybody up, it's just that it did seem over-the-top to me that people were so pissed off that they couldn't get a livestream of the event when it was promised to come at a later date. To me that's fine because I know we're getting it. I understand that other people want to experience it in real time and I was wrong to imply that everyone had an entitled attitude to wanting it now. To back everything up, my whole confusion and base of original comments stemmed from me not understanding people being upset over no livestream and the feeling of being left out.

Whether I felt left out or not - that doesn't mean I should ignore how other people feel, so I was wrong on that front. Also, as I said before I'm not an avid gamer besides KH, so I really don't follow how other games get marketed or what strategies people use. All I really am aware of are trailers being dropped and E3 (and whatever events I read on here will feature KH stuff). Maybe Square Enix is doing crap with the promotion of KH and this should have been livestreamed, I don't know. I feel like there must be some reason it's not - one of them I mentioned before, that is maybe there is no trailer for a new game. Would people still want the livestream if it was just Nomura talking and answering questions? Would people come back disappointed if there was no trailer?

Either way, people can feel how they want and I do agree that if they could have - they should have just done the livestream because why not. It doesn't affect me if they did it or not, but it was advertised as a celebration for all fans, so it is disappointing for the fans that would even be aware of this event (as casual fans probably don't care) to not have immediate access.

So I'm sorry for what I said. I wish other people could be as content with the situation as I am. I think I'm just used to getting nothing or very little or vague details from the KH marketing team. Whether that's good or bad, I don't know. I will say that I hope they don't go crazy with trailers and spoilers because the last KH3 trailer (I believe the Final Battle one) was horrific if you didn't want to get the game spoiled (I'm glad I asked the forum if it had spoilers before I watched it).

Anyway, I'm hoping that maybe they do a segment during the talk show where they ask Nomura a series of questions about KH mysteries (like where Riku got Kairi's keyblade). I think it'd actually be kind of funny to look back on the series and actually pick it apart with Nomura.

 

[DraceEmpressa]

Nobody else cared about KH3 until the marketing kicked in leading up to release (the trailers didn't make an impact and lots of people I know didn't get the hype for this "dumb looking kids game" only to be sucked in upon release). And nobody will care about KH4 until the marketing kicks in for that.

I wish marketing materials is a lot more honest that KH is more than "anime spiky haired kids fights Disney villain to save his damsel" , that KH is an acid trip plot with its fair share of edginess and legitimately serious plot. I hardly see people complained about FGO's acid trip plot , or even about Twisted Wonderland. The chapter CM openly shows the very clear foreshadowings to the plot, why can't KH have that?

Japan remains the favored child of the fandom, that much has always been clear. I'm not upset about the Q+A being an exclusive event, what bothers me is the prospect of game footage and or trailers being shown behind closed doors when there really is no reason to with the entire community waiting for the next game/project.

Correction, Tokyo only of the entire fandom. Not everyone in Japan live on Honshu island, and even then not everyone from Honshu island live in Tokyo. Japanese people who are not in Tokyo also hated this exclusivity as said before in this thread. My country have the same problem, not everyone in Indonesia lives in Java island and even then not everyone lived in Jakarta. And I said this despite I live really close to the borders of Jakarta. Living in archipelago country that only held events at the main island, moreso only at the capital sucks.

 

[Alpha Baymax]

I heavily disagree, like its ridiculous to me that the vast majority of us still haven't seen the Cable town cg trailer. If it was good enough to show at the launch event it was good enough to share with all of us. Forever mad lol.

And by the way let's just recap over every closed theatre that happened between 2013 - 2019, just off the top of my head:
2.5 launch event
D23 2015 (an absolutely awful one BTW because it was teased for so long)
D23 2017/2018 (iirc)
And the various concerts, I think the worst one being the "First Breath" scene.

Like, that is literally the type of stuff they can film and subtitle, the audience there is paying for the privilege of the concert, stuff like voice actor scenes can be made available to all of us, so no, if anything, we rarely get things of actual importance shown on the socials.

They release the game trailers because if they didn't that would be terrible marketing, it's for a purpose. All the other cool stuff? Fat chance of ever seeing them unless you were lucky enough to be there.

*Sure* we can rely on fan translations and descriptions, and I'm so grateful to goldpanner for that, and Zephyr for making those 2.5 event impressions. But really, fan site shouldn't be doing the brunt of this, and do so because they're so passionate, otherwise all of this stuff would be lost to the sands of time

When you put it like that... that is a genuine problem. I retract my previous statement.